Welcome to the Platformer where we talk about games in an extremely amateur but fun way! This post is in regards to my Ultimate Video Game List where I’m on a journey to discover what my personal favourite game ever is. Will Batman: Arkham Knight stealthily take down Mario Odyssey, or will it blindly fall into second place.

Batman: Arkham Knight is the third entry of the Batman Arkham trilogy where you play as the titular character in an open world taking down the swine that Gotham City has to offer including the likes of the Joker, Scarecrow, Two-Face, Joker, Penguin, Poison Ivy, Joker, Arkham Knight oh and the Joker. If that was too much Joker then maybe you should tell the writers because they cannot leave a good thing alone. I will talk about how a gorgeous game with some troubling mechanics but fun combat gets severely hampered by terrible video game storytelling.

I will start with the biggest positive of Batman: Arkham Knight and that is the visuals.

I’m not just talking about the realism because I played it on a sub-par PC but I could appreciate the Noire style gothic aesthetic. The intentional choice to make in constantly raining giving ever second of gameplay a sense of drama. Setting the game at night is standard for the series but in this game, the use of lighting technology truly brings everything to life creating contrast in the city. My favourite bit of design are the new villains.

The first appearance of Scarecrow is out of a horror film, he is scary and considering the backdrop and his powers it’s perfect. Arkham Knight is a supreme combatant and technologically advanced, so even at first glance the player knows that this will be a challenge. Even Gotham was memorable I found, I remember multiple recalling a previous event at the location I was in. So If you wanted a game to just brood on rooftops and experiencing the most beautiful version of Gotham you will see it’s perfect. Realistically though, that lasts 10 minutes max, so what does the game have to offer.

Well, the game as stated before is beautiful. It’s a shame that most of it will be blurred because of the addition of the Batmobile (definitely a tank). You travel from waypoint to waypoint in the Batmobile simply because it’s the fastest mode of transportation thus all of the beauty goes to waste especially since the city streets are not fun to drive around in with narrow streets and constant tight turns which leads to a lot of crashing.

Eventually, you do get the ability to fly as fast speeds so you can appreciate the city except you can’t. The open-world is littered with side quests that need to be completed if you want any kind of a satisfying ending. The easiest way to find these side quests? Detective vision. Detective vision turns everything into an ‘x-ray’ vision, therefore, all the grandeur and the beauty of the game is gone. The mechanics of the game do not communicate with the vision of what the game looks like because in an open-world game a player spends a large amount of time travelling. A game looks great while standing still, just make sure to not actually play it.

I will discuss the aspects of the story that I enjoyed and the areas I have issues with. Since there is no way of discussing this in detail without spoiling it.

!!!Spoiler Warning!!!

I will start with the areas I enjoyed…

I guess I will start with the negatives. Arkham Knight is a story that holds up in no other medium, so why is it looked at positively in gaming? It could be due to its ambition, possibly the twists and turns make the story intriguing. I’m not biased, I love games but the standard of storytelling is lower than Batman’s voice, only through unbiased criticism will this change.

The main issue is that the writers lack severe confidence in their story. The story does not commit to any significant plot point and is terrified of changing the status quo of the Batman universe but wants to make the player believe it will. This makes the experience feel worthless and manufactured. To keep it brief, the following are the resounding experiences that emphasise my point:

• In the previous game (Batman: Arkham City) the Joker dies. No resuscitation or last gasp he dies. You wouldn’t know it as constantly he appears as a vision to Batman more than any other villain but he is dead so he can’t be defeated so the writers didn’t have the courage do have a Batman story not include the Joker. Scarecrow looks amazing but is outshone by a mirage.

---

• The developers promised that the Arkham Knight was going to be a new character, so I was confused when there were very heavy-handed hints that he was Jason Todd. So the Arkham knight isn’t a new character, he’s just a worse version of the Red Hood a story we’ve already had but this time told less interestingly.In the previous game (Batman: Arkham City) the Joker dies. No resuscitation or last gasp he dies. You wouldn’t know it as constantly he appears as a vision to Batman more than any other villain but he is dead so he can’t be defeated so the writers didn’t have the courage do have a Batman story not include the Joker. Scarecrow looks amazing but is outshone by a mirage.

---

• Scarecrow has a great introduction and truly strikes fear in the player, the pace quickens so you would expect him to be a presence. Nope, he disappears for large portions of the game once again showing that the writers could not deliver on their promising of a city stricken by fear, instead it’s filled with tanks to shoot.The developers promised that the Arkham Knight was going to be a new character, so I was confused when there were very heavy-handed hints that he was Jason Todd. So the Arkham knight isn’t a new character, he’s just a worse version of the Red Hood a story we’ve already had but this time told less interestingly.In the previous game (Batman: Arkham City) the Joker dies. No resuscitation or last gasp he dies. You wouldn’t know it as constantly he appears as a vision to Batman more than any other villain but he is dead so he can’t be defeated so the writers didn’t have the courage do have a Batman story not include the Joker. Scarecrow looks amazing but is outshone by a mirage.

---

• The most egregious piece of writing was the decision to have Barbara Gordon commit suicide in front of you. There should be no way she survives leaving the player devastated. Well someone didn’t tell her because she just pops back up. Alive. What a jokeScarecrow has a great introduction and truly strikes fear in the player, the pace quickens so you would expect him to be a presence. Nope, he disappears for large portions of the game once again showing that the writers could not deliver on their promising of a city stricken by fear, instead it’s filled with tanks to shoot.The developers promised that the Arkham Knight was going to be a new character, so I was confused when there were very heavy-handed hints that he was Jason Todd. So the Arkham knight isn’t a new character, he’s just a worse version of the Red Hood a story we’ve already had but this time told less interestingly.In the previous game (Batman: Arkham City) the Joker dies. No resuscitation or last gasp he dies. You wouldn’t know it as constantly he appears as a vision to Batman more than any other villain but he is dead so he can’t be defeated so the writers didn’t have the courage do have a Batman story not include the Joker. Scarecrow looks amazing but is outshone by a mirage.

---

• Maybe there’s a satisfying ending after defeating scarecrow there’s a dramatic finale, a final test. The game turns into Call of Batman where you shoot the Joker and when you do apprehend Scarecrow the same cutscene occurs when you complete the side quest, the writers had such little confidence in their main plot they didn’t want to highlight the ending and you don’t get to finish the game unless you’ve done a certain amount of side quests!

After such a stressful experience (thank you for letting me vent) I’m going to take to the green in…

Golf Story

Thanks for reading! Feel free to like this post because it helps a tonne and you’ll me feel quite happy, and don’t be shy if you want to leave a comment.

1. […] Sebastianlondono96 from The Platformer […]

2. 

   Thank you 😀😀 it was great fun to write!

3. 

   Great post 🙂

4. […] Prison breakout – The Platformer […]

5. […] sends his minions but he is always prevalent, mocking, building to the epic encounter. Last week (Read my review…